The Sound of Engines
by mrspadrona
Summary: Danny Williams, a well recognised member of Big Red Machine in Newark, NJ, moves to Hawaii with his daughter after the death of her mother. He did not expect to find an insane former SEAL, a Club being targeted by the local Yakuza and could someone PLEASE do something about all the damn pineapples?
1. Chapter 1

The First Ward district of Newark wasn't known as a "white collar" neighborhood (in fact, it was the polar opposite). Most families were either Irish or Italian, and had several things in common, including clusters of siblings that would throw each other under the bus with their parents. Each had a mother that could wield a wooden spoon with deadly accuracy, a father that existed halfway between elation and exhaustion, and enough love to hold them through to the end. The Williams clan was no exception, of course.

Clara Williams came from an Italian family, and you always knew when she was upset with you because she'd suddenly go from speaking English to spouting off in perfect Italian. All four kids learned early on to fear the silence that followed a half-whispered "madone." Eddie was a quiet Irishman who enjoyed the time he had with his family between shifts at the firehouse and sleeping in his wedding bed a few times a month. He and Ma had been together long enough that sometimes, to their children, their relationship seemed more comfortable than romantic. Still, none of the four ever heard them argue, and each thought their mother's smile at surprises roses on the table was the best thing ever. The house was never short on noise, and the family was never short on love.

Danny Williams took after his mother in many ways. He was the oldest of all the kids, and because the universe had a sick sense of humor, he was also the shortest. He learned to defend himself pretty early on, using either his mouth or his fists, and the neighborhood kids stopped picking on him by the time he'd given more than half of them a "reason to bitch." By the time Stella, Diane, and Matty came along, Danny had established himself as the neighborhood boss. He was the one other kids deferred to when figuring out what they were going do in Branch Brook Park on a Friday night or stood up to kids from other neighborhoods when they started bullying kids from his area.

Danny taking a leadership role almost from his first breath among the other kids in the neighborhood led to his reputation preceding him in many ways. By the time he was ten years old, he'd accumulated a more than passing friendship with some older kids that tended to hang out at Red's Garage. Red's was the local home base for the New Jersey chapter of the Red and White, locally referred to as the Big Red Machine. It became commonplace to find him hanging around the front entrance to Big Red's, and it sparked a life-long passion for bikes. He started learning about their upkeep and the unique culture that surrounded them, spending hours covered in oil and tinkering around with the engines. When his parents heard about where he was spending time, they'd attempted to intervene. However, he'd already cemented his fascination, and no matter how many times he was told not to go back, Danny would be in the bays with some of the guys that worked there. The first time he pulled up to his house on a Harley may or may not have caused Ma Williams to declare he was "going to give me agita, Daniel. Agita!" (The fact that he was barely fourteen years old and nowhere near legal to drive a bike was another point she was quite vocal about).

In nineteen ninety, when it was time for him to get his driver's license, absolutely no one was surprised that he wanted to test for both motor vehicle and motorcycle. The morning after he passed saw Danny riding to school on a seventy-five cherry red Sportster with the death's head insignia and AFFA on the tank. In nineteen ninety-two, Danny Williams graduated from Barringer High School (middle of the class, thank you very much), and within days, he was working full time at the garage.

By nineteen ninety-three, Danno Williams had his first ink and his first arrest. Fingers from the garage bailed him out and gave him his first tattoo. When his parents found out the next day, the disappointment in his mother's eyes was almost as overwhelming as her anger. That was the beginning of the fractures that eventually led to the end of their relationship.

By nineteen ninety-nine, Danno hadn't spoken to his parents or his siblings for a few years, and the police in Newark knew both his bike and his temper intimately. By the year two thousand, Danno had met and married Rachel, and they were building a life together. In two thousand and two, Grace was born, which completed their family. Danno had done one other stint in prison, Eastern this time, but after that, he was home full time. It was five years after Grace was born that Danno's world tilted upside down with the phone call that came in the middle of the afternoon.

A Prospect from the club had seen an accident involving Rach's bike and had said the damage was pretty bad. Twenty minutes after that phone call, Danno was sitting on the ground, forcibly being held down by Big Tiny, Red, and Red's son, Joe. While his wife's body was being carefully loaded into the back of an ambulance, covered with a white sheet, the driver of the car blew four times the legal limit. He was so drunk he couldn't hold his head up.

In two thousand and nine, an opportunity arose for Danno to make a new home somewhere (don't ask about why this opportunity arose, nor the circumstances that caused it). He quickly found himself on a plane bound for Honolulu, Grace excitedly talking about everything she wanted to do in this "paradise." Red had contacted Chin-Ho, the President for the Red and White in Honolulu, to arrange for a place to live and ensure he had a ride from the airport. Grace was buzzing with excitement at the idea of living in paradise; Danno was trying not to think about how much he hated the smell of pineapples.


	2. Chapter 2

He was pretty sure he was never going to get used to the smell. Even after more than a year on this rock, his nose could still pick out the stench of plumeria and pineapple. It was everywhere on the island, no matter what he did. The only time it let up was when he so deep in an engine that all he could smell was oil and metal, or when he was in the shower and could use an excessive amount of body wash to overwhelm the scent temporarily. Other than that, everything smelled like a Pina Colada. That included his bedsheets, which made sleeping a less-than-restful experience. (No, it wasn't the nightmares that plagued him that kept him awake at night. It was the fucking pineapples, okay?)

His eyes cracked open, and he heaved a sigh as he brushed his hand over his face. It'd been a late one last night, and he hadn't gotten in until well after midnight. The job hadn't gone as planned, and he'd had to improvise at the last minute. Thankfully, he'd left Grace in the capable hands of Malia Kelly, the First Lady of the Club, and she'd been more than glad to keep her overnight. She'd assured him she would get her ready for school in the morning. A glance at the clock beside his bed told him he had about twenty minutes before he'd have to leave to pick Grace up and take her to school. It usually took about fifteen minutes to get from their house on Kaneohe Bay Dr to the private school he'd enrolled Grace in as soon as they landed on the island, but he knew he wanted to take her for breakfast beforehand, to make up for not being home to tuck her in last night. It was their ritual. He always tried to be back for tucking in, but if not, he took her to breakfast the next day.

At nine years old, Grace was starting to outgrow the night-time tucking in, but Danno still clung to it for the opportunity to spend time with her. She hadn't started to pull away from the public affection, like running into his arms every time he picked her up from school, but he knew that would come as she started to grow up, make more friends, and, eventually, date. She looked more and more like Rachel every day, with her dark hair and eyes, but her whip-smart sense of humor was all Williams. Her easy-going mannerisms were more like his Pop than anything else, and occasionally, he'd catch himself missing the family that had raised him. Not that they'd have anything to do with him now; Diane and Stella had both married cops while Matty was some financial whiz kid, working for the government. (He may not be welcome in their home, but he still kept up with what happened to the family, wanting to ensure no one from the old neighborhood got ideas about leveraging them). He grimaced to himself as he hauled his body up out of bed and slunk into the shower; he had to wash away the smell of pineapple and the sin of his job. One was easier to do than the other.

Ten minutes later, his leg swung over the body of his aught-eight Softail. It was Grace's favorite bike of the three he had on the island, and she'd taken to riding even more quickly than Danno had. When he'd gifted her the helmet a few months ago, her face lit up like the sun itself. He'd had Jenna airbrush the lid for his little girl, and it had gone from a plain white helmet to a bright pink number with monkey ears and Grace's name on the back. Grace was conscious of the need for safety, and neither of them needed to talk about why. Before losing Rachel, Danno had rarely worn a lid, but now he wore it whenever he was riding, and Grace never rode without one. Hawaii didn't have the same lid laws like New Jersey, but Danno understood what could happen and didn't want to risk Monkey like that.

He smirked to himself, thinking about the differences between Hawaii and Jersey. When he'd first arrived, Chin Ho Kelly had met Danno and Grace at the airport. Chin Ho Kelly was the President of the Auana MC, which was Honolulu's chapter of the Red and White. Danno was brave enough to admit he hadn't been impressed at first; Chin Ho looked like a laid-back native that smiled easily and would try to avoid hurting anything or anyone. The clubhouse itself was a non-descript building with a few private offices which opened into a central gathering area, and there were always a handful of Brothers and their ol' ladies hanging around. Danno had questioned his being a part of something so laid back for eight days, and then Chin had mentioned going out to see a guy named Ian Wright. Danno had never asked what Ian had done, but after watching the way Chin had sliced all the fingers off the kid's right-hand inch by inch, Danno's impression of the man had changed considerably. After that, he and Chin had struck up a close friendship, and Danno found himself quickly falling into the same roles he'd held in Jersey. He'd been in Honolulu for eight months when Chin had promoted him to Sergeant-at-Arms. At least three times a week, Danno and Grace could be found having dinner at their home.

"Danno!"

Grace's voice echoed across the lanai, and he could hear the smile before he saw it. He'd no sooner gotten down to one knee when Grace ran around the side of the house and jumped into his arms. He picked her up, swung her around once, snuck a kiss onto her forehead, and then placed her back on the ground.

"Morning, Monkey. You ready to go? I was thinkin' we could stop by Agnes' before I take you to school."

Grace's expression brightened even more before she scrambled back towards the house, calling over her shoulder, "That sounds awesome, Danno! I just need my bag."

Danno glanced up and noticed Malia had seated herself at the table with a mug of coffee. He made his way over and returned the hug she offered.

"And a fine morning to you, lovely lady. Chin already gone fishin'?"

"My hardworking half left for the clubhouse about twenty minutes ago. You have that new guy coming by today," she reminded him with a grin.

Chin had told him about the guy they were meeting, a former Navy SEAL looking to regain his position with Auana after being away for at least twenty years, late last week. He wasn't exactly a new member, which made Danno a little uneasy. The guy's name was Steve and was the son of the founder of the MC, Jack McGarrett. From what Danno understood, he'd been an active Prospect during his final year of high school, but had left to join the Navy. Danno didn't have anything against him joining the service, but it was disturbing to him to have someone that moved and was now returning. From the time he was first hanging around Red's, the unwritten motto they all lived by was a simple one. Club First. Danno appreciated the skills Steve could bring to the table, especially the training, which would come in handy dealing with the Yakuza and some of their more contested areas of operation.

Before he could respond, he heard Grace thunder down the steps and run outside. She was wearing her jeans, had her backpack secured to her back, and had her lid already on her head. She buckled the chin strap as Danno thanked Malia and began to walk towards the bike.

"Thanks again, Malia. I thought last night was gonna be a lot faster than it ended up being, and I hate getting jammed up like that. I appreciate you being there."

"It's no problem, Jersey. That's what ohana does. Did you get everything taken care of last night?" Her voice was soft, but he could hear the concern behind the casual tone.

"Yeah, it was taken care of, and we don't have to worry about it again."

She nodded, hugged Grace one more time, and disappeared back into the house. Danno swung himself onto the bike, stood it upright so Grace could join him, and waited as she settled with her arms around his waist. Once she was tucked tight against him, he righted the bike and revved the ignition, which caused her to laugh cheerfully.

"Monkey loves you, Danno," he heard her yell over the sound of the engine.

"Danno loves you, too, Monkey," he answered.

An hour later, he was dropping her off in front of Le Jardin with a belly full of coffee and malasadas and promising to pick her up in the afternoon. He waved at a few of the other parents, dropping their children off in their Mercedes and their Range Rovers and sighed as they blanched at his greeting. Through both Grace's school and his repair shop on the island, the name Danno Williams was reasonably well-known. He wore the AFFA tattoo across the knuckles of both hands as proudly as he wore the Newark rocker on the back of his cut. His affiliation with the 'Auana MC was enough to cause other parents to give him a wide berth, but as long as that didn't affect Grace, he had no troubles about what they thought of him in particular.

He pulled out onto the highway and rode toward the far side of the island, intending to get to the Club before nine, so he could meet with the SEAL that was looking to re-join their crew.


	3. Chapter 3

The thirty-minute ride from Kailua to the outskirts of Pearl City was uneventful and gave Danno a chance to analyze last night's events, which had begun as a simple errand, and ended as a clusterfuck. Victor Hesse had been a patched-in member of the MC for several years, but over the last six months, he had been behaving somewhat erratically. Several times he'd been caught in the company of the Yakuza, and word had gotten back to Chin that Hesse had been letting spill secrets about the inner workings of Auana. Chin had asked Danno to visit him and deliver a message, which should have been a very simple in-and-out. The problem came in the form of one Sang Min, a neutral friend of the club, who'd been visiting with Victor at the time of Danno's arrival. He swore, up and down, that he'd had nothing to do with Victor's spreading of information, but Danno felt obligated to leave a note for him as well. With time and a small financial donation towards the cause courtesy of the Auana, Danno was sure his femur would heal. Victor, on the other hand, was not so lucky.

Three hours after his arrival, Danno was just finishing up cleaning the scene and packing things up for delivery to Kamekona and his sharks, when his eye caught on the pizza box sitting in the kitchen. He realized that he was exhausted and hadn't eaten since lunch, so he flipped the box open and felt his heart plummet down to his toes.

"Seriously?! I don't understand this fascination with putting pineapple on pizza. It's blasphemy! I swear, if my Ma were still speaking to me, I'd ask her how to bring you back from the dead so that I can kill you all over again!" Danno ranted to the now empty house as he gathered up his prizes and loaded them into the trunk of the Camaro. Once he was sure everything was packed, he set the pizza box next to the stove and turned the burner to high. Nature would take care of the rest. By the time he made his delivery, showered, and climbed into bed, it had been well past two in the morning.

His thoughts were on a fresh cup of coffee as he pulled up to the clubhouse on Waihona Place and turned the front wheel towards his usual parking space, so he almost hit the bike that was taking up the spot. His first thought was aggravation, wondering who would have the cojones to park there, quickly followed by a begrudging admiration. The bike itself was a meticulously maintained seventy-four Sportster with a shovelhead six-eleven engine and a chromed-out tank that reflected the Hawaiian sunlight like a weaponized rainbow. Along the side of the tank, Danno was able to make out an acid-etched deaths-head symbol and the number eighty-one surrounded by a lei of flowers. He didn't recognize the bike, which meant it had to belong to the McGarrett join. While he admired the balls it took to assume he could park there, Danno was going to make sure he understood that wouldn't be happening again. Skills be damned; he wasn't about to let a spot he'd earned go to a guy with more muscle than brain.

Danno made his way to the open door that led into Chin's office, where the man himself was seated behind his desk. His facial expression gave nothing away; he could be reading a nursery rhyme to a group of children or cutting someone's fingers off, and the tranquil smile would remain in place.

"Hey Chin," Danno said as he dropped into the seat in front of the desk.

"Hey, Danno. How's the ride in, brah?"

"Ride was good. We got breakfast before I dropped her at school. Did you notice there's a superhero somewhere in this joint that has a God complex? A chromed-out Fatboy is in my spot."

"I dunno about the God complex, but I'll take superhero," an unfamiliar voice said from the shadows on Danno's left, sounding amused.

Danno turned to look, and his first impression was of height and strength. The man that stepped forward had dark hair, tanned-gold skin, and a broad smile that was seemingly all teeth. His frame was lean, but it seemed to take up far more space than it should have, similar to the way an apex predator appears to exist everywhere at once. And Danno could see that predator hiding just behind the laugh in those dark eyes as they drank in everything around him. He wore a dark shirt that showed off every muscle in his upper body and highlighted the full sleeve of colorful tattoos that extended from just below the cuff to his wrists, skipped his hands, and continued with AFFA across his knuckles. As Danno's eyes followed the lines of the man's body, he took note of the black cargo pants, tucked into the tops of a pair of highly polished military-style boots, that had suspicious bulges in various pockets. As the man took another step forward, Danno also realized, despite his size and style of boot, he made zero noise when he moved and was probably the reason Danno hadn't noticed him beforehand. Stealth was another mark against the man in Danno's book, though admittedly, it was more of a benefit than a hindrance if the guy was going to work with him. However, that didn't stop Danno's natural inclination towards snark.

"I don't care if you think you're Buddha on a pogo stick, babe. Name's Danno Williams, Sergeant-at-Arms, and that's the last time our rides share parking spaces," Danno commented as he turned back towards Chin. "I need coffee. You want?"

"Yeah, I'll take it black. Then we can talk about where you can park because that spot was my father's and since that's his bike, that's where I park," the man replied smoothly, grinning as he took the other chair in front of the desk. As he crossed his arms over his chest, Danno noticed the muscles seemed to expand even more than when he'd been standing. And that was the goofiest smile he'd ever seen on a grown man, which worked as a balm against his frustration. He shook his head and caught himself smiling back.

"Jersey, meet Steve McGarrett, legacy patch from our founder, John McGarrett. You two are gonna get along great!"


End file.
